Crash victim's wife had sense of foreboding

Husband was en route to work along same Toll Road stretch as accident.

Husband was en route to work along same Toll Road stretch as accident.

April 28, 2007|LOU MUMFORD Tribune Staff Writer

An ominous feeling crept over Michele Repp on Thursday morning when she saw television news reports of the horrific crash on the Indiana Toll Road. She knew it had occurred about the time her husband, Mark, 45, was traveling to Eby Ford in Goshen, where he worked as a diesel mechanic. And she knew the stretch of Toll Road, where the accident occurred, was the route Repp, a resident of Sturgis, always followed. Her feeling worsened when she called him at work and he didn't answer. Then she called the Indiana State Police and her worst fears were confirmed. She said school counselors and representatives of the Indiana State Police Victim Services Unit helped her break the news to the couple's four children, ages 6 through 21. She described her husband as "a good man'' who played the drums "just to have fun.'' "He was fun ... a family man. He took care of his children and me,'' she said. The family had lived in the Chicago area, where Repp also worked as a diesel mechanic, before moving to Sturgis about two years ago, she said. "He got tired of the traffic in Illinois,'' she said. Repp had worked at Eby Ford about a year and a half. Bill Reinke, Eby Ford's director of fixed operations, called him an "awesome individual'' and Rich Keller, the Eby Ford service manager, said Repp was "an ideal employee.'' "He liked to laugh and have fun,'' Keller said Friday. "Already, we've been remembering the little things Mark would say.'' He said Repp's "great attitude'' was matched by his skills as a mechanic. "He was great at what he did. He had a following of customers that wanted Mark to work on their vehicles,'' he said. Keller said Repp was so dependable he sensed something was wrong when Repp didn't show up by his usual starting time of 7 a.m. No one answered when he placed a call to Repp's cell phone, he said. "Then one of the technicians said there had been a bad accident on the Toll Road,'' he said. "I thought maybe he was stuck in traffic ... but then his wife called.'' The accident apparently was triggered by a semi-truck driver who crashed into the rear of a pickup truck, setting off a chain reaction of crashes involving two other vehicles, including Repp's pickup. Repp was killed along with seven others in what was described as one of the Toll Road's worst accidents. Keller said Repp would have escaped the accident had he managed to travel just a little further. "He was almost to his exit, for Bristol,'' he said. "He didn't quite make it.'' Staff writer Lou Mumford: lmumford@sbtinfo.com (269) 687-7002